Actress Meena’s daughter Nainika makes her acting debut in the film playing Vijay’s daughter, so we asked her how much she likes the actor. The bubbly child responded, “I like Vijay uncle so much,” and went close to her mom. We then quizzed her if she knew that her mother was one of the much sought-after child artistes of the 80s, and Nainika nodded and smiled. Meena joined the conversation and said, “Yes, she pretty much knows everything. In fact, I’ve shown her my pictures.”
The Drishyam star told DC, “When Atlee approached me with the script I thought he had come with a role for me, but when he said he wanted to cast my daughter, I was initially apprehensive! But eventually he convinced me. The whole team pampered Nainika as one of their own, with love and affection. She dubbed for her own character, too.” Meena said that she was present on the sets from day one of the shoot, until it was a wrap. “I accompanied her to the shooting spot every day. I realised the importance of my daughter’s character after I heard the story, but as an actress, I know what difficulties the child would face during shooting schedules. But the team co-operated with us quite well. Sometimes, Nainika would refuse to do the same thing over and over, as she knew nothing about movie making. Everybody was patient and they waited for her to come around. Vijay gifted a lot of things to Nainika and no wonder, she became close to him!” she added.
So, what’s next for the five-year-old? “Honestly, I am not going to say ‘yes’ if anybody wants to cast my daughter for any movie. I don’t want her to miss her childhood — I missed mine; I feel bad about it now. I know it’s too late,” Meena concluded.
